THE  ONE  WAY  OUT 


THE 

ONE  WAY  OUT 

BY 

BETTINA  VON  HUTTEN 

AUTHOR  OF  "  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  BEECHES,"  "  PAM," 
"  PAM  DECIDES,"  ETC. 

WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS    BY 
HARRISON  FISHER 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,    MEAD  AND  COMPANY 
1906 


Copyright,  1906,  by 
DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPAHY 

Published  October,  1906 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS,  CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A. 


LIST 
OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


Frontispiece 

A  floating  vision  of  velvet  and 

fur  and  yellow  hair  .      .      .     Page  IO 

"I'm  glad  to  see  you,  "she  be- 
gan, sipping  champagne. 
' '  I  want  to  ask  your  advice  " 

Before  he  had  recognized  her 
she  was  in  his  arms,  her  lips 
pressed  to  his  .... 

* '  And   you    must    break   the 

engagement"      ....  92 


36 


72 


2228508 


PART 


THE 

ONE  WAY  OUT 


I 

AACHEN  the  door  had  closed  be- 
hind him  Adrian  Bellew  stood  for 
a  moment  looking  into  the  rain- 
blown  darkness .  Across  the  street 
an  electric  light  served  to  show  up 
all  the  horrors  of  the  tempest- 
uous night;  its  thick,  glutinous 
mud;  the  pouring  rain,  its  ma- 
levolent rebound  toward  chilled 
ankles ;  the  wind's  strength  against 
all  things,  animate  and  inanimate. 

Bellew  shuddered.  He  was  a 
fastidious  man  and  hated  wet  as 
a  cat  hates  it. 

And  he  was  in  evening  dress 
and  had  not  even  an  umbrella. 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


Everything,  he  thought,  was  bad 
enough,  but  this  minor  evil  of 
having  to  walk  —  whereon  he 
decided  to  go  —  seemed  to  him 
the  worst  of  all. 

The  rain,  beaten  by  a  sudden 
gust  of  wind,  blew  against  his 
face  as  he  cowered  against  the 
inhospitable  door,  and  with  a 
rueful  laugh  he  plunged  down 
into  the  thick  of  it. 

Turning  instinctively  toward 
home  he  crossed  the  street  and 
went  rapidly  along  Mount  street 
to  Berkeley  square,  meaning  to 
cross  Piccadilly  at  St.  James 
street. 

It  was  mid-November  and,  in 
spite  of  the  wind,  scraps  and 
shreds  of  a  "  London  particular" 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


still  clung  to  the  corners  and 
veiled  the  lighted  vistas  at  the 
turnings.  Bellew  had  turned  up 
the  collar  of  his  light  coat,  but 
the  water  trickled  into  his  neck, 
while  his  evening  shoes  were  al- 
ready soaked. 

"Damnation!"  he  exclaimed 
aloud  once  as  he  walked  along 
the  near  side  of  Berkeley  square ; 
"I  might  as  well  blow  my  head 
off  at  once ! " 

The  details  of  the  late  interview 
returned  again  and  again  to  his 
mind.  Courtland  was  not  so  bad, 
for  a  second  cousin ;  he  had  twice 
paid  all  Bellew's  debts,  would  very 
probably  have  stumped  up  again 
but  for  this  ridiculous,  maddening 
fact  of  his  own  comparative  ruin. 


THE    ONE  WAY   OUT 


West  Courtland  was  for  sale, 
the  jewels  had  gone,  young  Val 
would  have  to  sell  out,  and  even 
the  little  house  in  Mount  street 
would  have  to  go. 

Poor  old  Courtland  had  almost 
wept  in  telling  all  these  sad  things . 
Bellew's  boundless  surprise  had 
at  first  kept  him  silent,  and  after- 
ward his  pity  for  the  broken  man 
before  him  had  obliterated  all 
memory  of  his  own  desperate 
state  from  his  mind. 

His  adopting  the  role  of  con- 
soler was  deliciously  absurd,  he 
now  realized.  If  Courtland  con- 
sidered himself  ruined,  he  at  least 
had  the  little  place  in  Ireland  to 
retire  to  and  enough  to  buy  bread 
and  clothes  for  his  family. 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


Whereas  he,  Bellew,  had  ex- 
actly fifteen  pounds  six  and  ten- 
pence  in  the  world. 

It  had  its  amusing  side. 

Bellew's  mother  had  been  Irish, 
and,  wet  and  miserable  though 
he  was,  her  son  laughed  aloud  as 
he  realized  how  infinitely  he 
preferred  his  own  condition,  free, 
to  that  of  his  cousin,  hampered 
with  an  estimable  wife  and  fault- 
less if  slightly  uninteresting 
children. 

* '  If  only  I  was  n't  such  a  damned 
lazy  brute,"  he  mused,  "the  fif- 
teen, six  and  tenpence  would  get 
me  to  America  and  I  could — 
work.  H  'm — work ! " 

He  loathed  work  of  any  kind ; 
he  was  a  gambler ;  more  or  less 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


of  a  drinker ;  a  fatalist ;  a  late 
riser ;  a  born  and  charming  idler ; 
a  mild  lover  of  pretty  women ;  a 
passionate  lover  of  this  old,  smoky, 
irresistible,  wonderful  London. 

And  he  had  for  years  drifted 
along,  amusing  and  boring  him- 
self, trusting  for  his  living  to  the 
diminutive  fortune,  every  penny 
of  which  he  had  just  lost  in  a  mad 
fit  of  the  speculative  frenzy,  to 
occasional  gifts  from  Lord  Court- 
land  and  to  his  luck  at  cards. 

Now  he  had  come,  as  he  put 
it,  to  the  end  of  his  rope.  He 
was  utterly  ruined,  though  no 
one  knew  it,  and  some  kind  of  a 
decision  had  to  be  made. 

"I'll  toss  up  for  it,"  he  de- 
cided lazily — "heads,  a  bullet; 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


tails,  leave  London.     And  I  won- 
der which  would  be  worse  ?  " 

As  he  reached  this  point  he 
came  to  a  striped  awning  stretch- 
ing to  the  street  from  the  door 
to  his  right,  and  while  he  stood 
still,  glad  of  the  frail  shelter,  a 
carriage  clattered  up  behind  him 
and  stopped  at  the  awning. 

Bellew  drew  back  into  the  wet 
darkness  and  watched  the  footman 
open  the  door  of  the  carriage. 
"Three  o'clock,  James." 
"Very  good,  my  lady." 
A  floating  vision  of  velvet  and 
fur  and  yellow  hair,  a  blaze  of 
light  as  the  house  door  opened 
to  admit  the  belated  guest,  a  bang 
of  the  carriage  door,  a  remark 
of  the  footman  to  his  colleague 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


on  the  box,  and  Bellew  was 
again  alone. 

11  Betty  Pole,  by  Jove!"  he 
said  aloud,  wrinkling  his  nose 
to  sniff  the  scent  still  hanging 
in  the  damp  air.  "Ideal  and 
Orchidee  —  delicious  !  " 

He  loved  scent,  this  modern 
Briton,  and  the  swishing  of  the 
pretty  woman's  silken  skirts 
sounded  entrancingly  on  his  ears. 
Leave  London?  Not  he. 

He  was  not  good  for  much, 
but  he  fitted  London;  he  be- 
longed there  and  nowhere  else. 

' '  Betty  Pole  would  marry  me 
if  I  asked  her,"  he  thought,  taking 
off  his  hat  and  smoothing  his 
satiny,  dark  hair.  "She's  got 
nearly  as  many  debts  as  I  have, 


10 


A  Uoating  vision  of  velvet  and  fur  and  jellow  hair. 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


but  she  can't  touch  her  principal. 
Good  Lord,  I  could rit  work." 

The  house  before  which  he  stood 
was  Sir  John  Seton's,  and  Lady 
Seton  was  giving  a  ball.  Good! 
There  goes  the  music. 

Bellew  laughed  aloud  and 
stamped  on  the  carpet  to  shake 
some  of  the  water  from  his 
shoes.  & 

' '  I  think  I'll  change  my  mind 
and  go  to  this  ball,"  he  said 
aloud. 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


II 

OELLO,  Adrian;  I  haven't 
seen  you  for  an  age ! " 

Lady  Betty  Pole  smiled  up  at 
the  newcomer  and  made  room  for 
him  beside  her.  "  Where  have 
you  been?" 

Bellew  looked  at  her  gravely. 
11 1  have  been  in  hell." 

*  *  In — good  gracious !  You  do 
say  the  most  awful  things  !  " 

"  You  asked  me,"  he  returned. 

4 'Well,  doesn't  one  often  ask 
questions  without  wanting  the 
real  answer?" 

She  was  very  pretty  in  the  be- 
coming light  of  modern  houses. 
He  knew  that  she  was  painted 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


and  powdered,  dyed  and  padded 
and  laced.  He  also  knew  that 
she  was  a  flirt  without  a  heart, 
a  ravenous  gobbler  of  gifts  of  all 
kinds;  that  she  had  had  loves 
without  ever  loving.  He  knew 
her  to  be  a  liar.  But — she  meant 
London  to  him. 

'*  If  I  told  you  what  I  meant," 
he  resumed,  after  looking  steadily 
into  her  eyes  for  a  moment,  '  *  you 
would  laugh  at  me,  and  with 
reason." 

4 'Laugh  at  you?  Ah,  no, 
Adrian." 

His  dark,  worn,  rather  weak 
face  was  of  the  beauty  that  at- 
tracts superficial  women,  and 
some  better  ones.  He  saw  ad- 
miration in  her  blue  eyes. 


i3 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


"  But  I  say,  with  reason,  I  have 
been  in  hell  for  the  past  week 
because  I  am  a  fool." 

' '  Tell  me . "  She  had  no  heart, 
but  she  was  emotional  and  loved 
a  tete-a-t£te  scene  with  an  attrac- 
tive man,  and  Adrian  Bellew's 
rather  evil  reputation  had  a  potent 
charm  for  her. 

"  Well,  I  am  forty-one,  and  — 
I  have  fallen  in  love." 

She  laughed,  drawing  up  her 
lip  in  a  little  sneer. 

"For  the  first  time?" 

"  No,"  he  said  fiercely,  leaning 
toward  her.  ' '  For  the  last.  And 
that  is  worse." 

Her  eyes  wavered;  then  she 
laughed  again. 

"Poor  you!  Who  is  the  lady?" 


*J  I    V  -  /     )  I/ft 

THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


"You  know." 

"I  don't." 

"Don't  lie,  Betty.  You  do 
know." 

His  eyes  still  held  hers,  but 
she  held  her  fan  to  her  too  red 
lips. 

"  Of  course,  you  mean  me. 
Well,  I  am  much  flattered,  but 
—  I  must  beg  to  decline  the 
honor." 

Bellew  paled.  Since  he  had 
entered  the  house  he  had  so  felt 
the  absolute  impossibility  of  his 
leaving  the  life  beloved  so  well 
that  Betty  Pole  had  grown  to  look 
to  him  an  almost  angelic  aid  in 
his  despair. 

He  drew  a  deep  breath.  She 
must  accept  him ;  and,  suddenly 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


seizing  his  dying  courage,  he  said, 

* '  I  have  not  asked  you  to  marry 

»» 
me. 

<  «  Oh !  But  then  what  ?  You 
did  mean  that !  What  else  could 
you  have  meant  P  "  she  stammered 
in  angry  confusion . 

"I  mean  that  I  love  you,  but 
that  —  my  God,  woman,  I  am  not 
altogether  insane  to  imagine  that 

I  could  be  happy  with  a  wife  like 

i  ?> 
you! 

* '  How  —  how  dare  you ?  " 

" 1  dare  anything.  I  know  all 
about  you ;  why  pretend  I  don't  ? 
Your  character  is  no  more  real 
than  your  complexion.  You  are 
the  worst  liar  in  London  —  you. 
If  I  were  able  to  marry  I  'd  marry 
some  young  girl — yes,  some  good, 


16 


THE   ONE  WAY  OUT 


innocent  child  whom  you  would 
call  bread-and-butter " 

He  broke  off  as  she  rose, 
trembling  with  anger,  and  rose, 
too. 

"Now  you  know.  Only — " 
and  his  voice  fell  to  one  of  incredi- 
ble softness  —  "I  —  love  you." 

For  a  moment  she  paused, 
flushed  and  breathing  hard. 
Would  she  or  would  she  not  fall 
into  the  trap?  He  thought  she 
would,  from  the  trembling  of  her 
mouth. 

Then  suddenly  she  laughed. 
"Very  clever,  Mr.  Adrian  Bellew, 
and  if  I  were  a  few  years  younger 
I  might  have  been  fooled.  Good- 
night and — good-bye.  You  will 
not  speak  to  me  again." 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


She  walked  slowly  away,  leav- 
ing him  standing  by  the  sofa. 

She  was  cleverer  than  he  had 
thought.  She  had  seen  through 
his  trick.  And  —  he  must  leave 
London.  He  was  not  a  coward 
and  would  undoubtedly  have 
risked  his  life  for  hers  at  that 
very  moment,  but  as  his  hopes 
crumbled  he  silently  consigned 
her  to  that  place  from  which  he 
had  a  few  moments  before  an- 
nounced his  recent  return. 


18 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


HI 

W  ELL,  that  was  over ;  but, 
having  begun,  why  stop? 

There  was  Alice  Bradnor  in 
a  horrible,  spangled  frock.  She 
had  been  out  for  six  winters  and 
was  beginning  to  be  bored.  She 
had  red  elbows  and  scant  hair, 
but  she  had  plenty  of  money. 

Bellew  threaded  the  crowded 
space  between  Miss  Bradnor  and 
himself  with  a  magnificent  air 
that  he  felt  was  admired  by  his  pro- 
jected victim.  She  was  romantic, 
he  knew,  and  had  expressed  a 
wish  to  model  his  head.  He  was 
not  a  vain  man,  but  he  knew  the 
value  as  a  personal  asset  of  his 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


great  stature  and  small,  well- 
shaped,  dark  head. 

The  admiration  the  girl  felt  for 
him  shone  in  her  uninteresting 
eyes  as  he  led  her  into  the  next 
room  and  settled  her  in  the  shel- 
tered corner  where  he  had  been 
left  by  Lady  Betty. 

' '  How  does  the  sculpture  go  ?  " 
he  asked. 

"  Oh,  fairly  well.  I  have  been 
too  busy  to  get  in  much  hard  work, 
and  only  hard  work  counts." 

"Yes,"  agreed  the  idler 
gravely,  "only  hard  work.  I 
missed  you  at  the  Whistler  Ex- 
hibition on  Thursday." 

*  *  Oh,  how  nice  of  you  !  I  was 
down  in  Yorkshire  for  my  cousin 
Harry  Carr's  coming  of  age." 


20 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


'  *  Some  of  the  etchings  were 
very  fine,"  went  on  Bellew,  look- 
ing at  her,  "but  I  am  such  a 
groper  in  the  realms  of  art;  I 
need  someone  to  lead  me." 

At  these  words  the  girl's  face 
flushed  violently  and  Bellew  men- 
tally grinned.  She  was  very 
plain,  but  she  was  a  thoroughly 
nice  girl,  and  she  meant  London. 

"  I  looked  all  over  for  you,  and 
then  I  left." 

"I  feel  very  much  flattered," 
Miss  Bradnor  returned,  with  a 
painful  effort  at  lightness,  "but 
I'm  sure  you  might  easily  have 
found  a  much  better  guide  than 
I.  I  don't  know  much  myself." 

For  a  moment  there  was  si- 
lence, while  Bellew's  eyes  talked 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


eloquently.  They  said,  "I  love 
you;  it  is  the  love  of  my  life,  and 
only  a  conviction  of  my  own  un- 
worthiness  prevents  my  telling 
you  with  words." 

"You  didn't  go  to  Grays', 
either,"  he  said  at  length. 

"N-no,"  she  stammered,  con- 
fused between  the  two  conversa- 
tions he  had  addressed  to  her, 
-I  — I  had  a  cold." 

' '  You  had  told  me  you  were 
going." 

"I  know.  And  then  I  caught 
a  horrid  cold.  I  was  awfully 
disappointed." 

Her  figure  could  be  made  good, 
he  realized,  by  the  proper  kind  of 
stays  and  frocks.  And  she  might 
wear  a  transformation.  She  was 


22 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


better  than  that  little  brute  of  a 
Betty  Pole,  besides  having  ten 
times  the  money. 

"Look  here,"  he  said  suddenly, 
leaning  toward  her .  "I  am  going 
to  America  to-morrow,  and  there's 
something  I  want  to  tell  you. 
May  I?" 

"Oh!"  she  cried  faintly. 
"America?  Why  are  you  going 
to  America  ?  I  can't  imagine  you 
away  from  London  !  " 

"Neither  can  I,"  returned 
Bellew,  hiding  a  sudden  grim 
smile  by  pulling  his  mustache, 
"but  I  shall  probably  sail  to- 
morrow on  the  Umbria." 

The  room  being  momentarily 
empty  but  for  themselves,  he  laid 
his  hand  on  hers  as  he  finished 

>, ^-,       y^JggJ==S=^==:::^>:;rX?r  X^bv 

23 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


speaking,  and  she  looked  at  him 
with  eyes  that  swam  in  tears. 

"  You  like  me  a  little,  I  know," 
he  went  on,  "  and  I  want  to  know 
whether  you  ever  could  —  like 
me  more  ?  " 

But  to  his  surprise  she  rose 
abruptly. 

"Oh,  I  am  so  sorry,  so  very 
sorry,  Mr.  Bellew.  Please  let's 
go  back  into  the  ballroom." 

"  No.  Not  until  you  have  an- 
swered my  question." 

"Well — I — I  am  sorry,  but  I 
never  can  like  you  more.  Oh  !  " 

—  she  added,  with  visible  relief 

—  "here  comes  my  partner,  Mr. 
Wilson." 

Bellew,  when  he  was  alone, 
after  watching  her  departure  on 


THE   ONE   WAY  OUT 


the  arm  of  the  insignificant  youth 
with  the  large  flower  in  his  coat, 
turned  and  looked  at  himself  in 
the  glass  over  the  sofa. 

* '  I  have  n't  grown  perceptibly 
old  or  ugly  since  that  night  at 
the  Opera,  and  she  seemed  to 
find  me  fairly  attractive  then. 
What  the  devil  is  the  matter  with 
me?  Well,  whom  shall  I  try 
next?  I  will  not  leave  England, 
and  other  men  marry  for  money, 
so  why  shouldn't  I?  Ah,  there's 
that  little  Miss  Fermoy;  she 
might  do." 

With  an  amused  smile  he  went 
on  into  the  ballroom,  and,  as  he 
turned  to  creep  along  the  wall, 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  dancers, 
he  came  face  to  face  with  a  very 


r~"\ 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


young  girl  in  a  beautiful  white 
frock. 

"Oh,  Cousin  Adrian,  you 
here?" 

She  held  out  her  thin  hand 
and  then,  as  he  took  it,  added, 
"  I'm  sure  you  have  n't  been  here 
long?" 

"  Came  here  half  an  hour  ago. 
How  are  you,  Bramley  ?  " 

The  elderly  gentleman  on 
whose  arm  the  young  girl  was 
leaning  coughed.  '  *  I  say,  Adrian, 
you  won't  mind  taking  Eve  and 
finding  a  quiet  corner  for  her  to 
rest  in  ?  The  doctors  won't  let 
her  dance  much,  so  I've  just 
snatched  her  away  from  her  part- 
ners, and  I  'm  so  thirsty  I  simply 
must  get  something  to  drink." 


26 


SJ 

THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


Back  to  the  historic  sofa  Bellew 
led  the  girl,  and  with  rather 
queer  feelings  watched  her  sit 
down  in  the  corner  lately  oc- 
cupied by  Lady  Betty  and  Alice 
Bradnor.  Eve  Bramley  was  a 
distant  cousin  of  his,  and  only 
twenty.  She  was  a  slight,  ex- 
quisitely fair  young  creature  with 
brown  eyes  set  in  dark,  shadowy 
lashes.  Bellew  drew  a  long 
breath  as  he  sat  down  by  her. 

"Well,  what  have  you  fbeen 
doing  with  yourself  of  late  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"I?  Oh,  nothing,  Cousin 
Adrian.  I  have  not  been  very 
well.  We  are  going  to  Cannes 
after  Christmas." 

"  To  Cannes?" 


27 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


"Yes.  And  you  can't  think 
how  I  loathe  it — the  hot  sun,  and 
the  cold  wind,  and  the  dust,  and 
the  gay  people.  But  Sir  Evelyn 
says  I  must  go.  My  lungs  are 
all  right,  he  says,  but  I  am  not 
strong." 

Bellew  sat  motionless .  He  had 
dreaded  seeing  her  again  after 
his  last  visit  to  Berkshire;  he  had 
meant  never  to  do  so,  and  yet 
here  they  were,  alone,  and  sitting 
on  that  cursed  sofa. 

"Always  rather  liked  Cannes, 
myself,"  he  observed  carelessly, 
his  eyes  fixed  on  the  door  of  the 
ballroom. 

The  girl  did  not  answer,  and 
there  was  a  long  silence.  Bellew 
did  not  turn,  but  he  saw  her 


28 


THE   ONE  WAY  OUT 


without  looking  at  her.  He  knew 
that  she,  too,  was  thinking  of 
that  evening  in  August,  on  the 
terrace. 

He  was  forty  and  she  twenty, 
and  she  was  an  angel  and  he  any- 
thing but  an  angel;  he  was  a 
ruined  gambler  and  she  the 
only  daughter  of  rich  old  Hugh 
Bramley.  These  were  some  of 
the  reasons  why  he  had  left  Ufton 
the  day  after  that  evening  of  which 
they  were  both  thinking,  but  they 
seemed  now  strangely  inadequate 
reasons.  He  turned  suddenly, 
clearing  his  throat. 

" I'm  glad  I  met  you  here, 
Eve,"  he  said,  "for  I'm  going 
to  America  to-morrow." 

"To  America?" 


THE   ONE  WAY  OUT 


It  was  just  what  Alice  Bradnor 
had  said,  and  he  moved  uneasily. 

"Yes.  I  was  going  to  write 
to  say  good-bye.  I  am  writ- 
ing to  everyone;  loathe  verbal 
adieux." 

The  girl  sat  very  quiet,  her 
hand  folded  over  her  fan. 

"Why  are  you  going?"  she 
said  at  length. 

A  wild  impulse  came  to  him. 
He  would  tell  her  the  truth. 
"I'm  about  ruined,"  he  answered, 
"and  there's  no  good  trying  to 
live  in  a  different  way  here." 

"Ruined?"  Her  voice  fright- 
ened him. 

"Well,  in  a  way.  I  mean  I've 
lost  money  and  shall  have  only 
enough  to  live  very  quietly — 


3o 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


though  I  can  be  quite  comfort- 
able," he  added,  with  a  quiet  look 
at  her  white  face.  "I  think  I'll 
go  out  to  California." 

"Adrian,  tell  me  the  truth." 
She   never  before   called  him 
Adrian   without   the   prefatory 
"cousin,"  and  he  started. 

'  *  My  dear  child,  I  have  told  you 
the  truth.  I  shall  leave  these 
gay  scenes  and  begin  life  over 

as  a — a  horny-handed " 

' '  Oh,  don't ! "  she  cried  sharply. 
"Don't  treat  me  like  that.  Are 
you  really  too — too  poor  to  go  on 
living  here  in  England?" 

"I  am,  but  I  can  be " 

"Wait,  Adrian;  you  remem- 
ber that  night  at  Ufton?  On 
the  terrace?" 


3i 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


He  nodded.  "  Eve,  don't  you 
want  to  go  back  into  the  ball- 
room? It's  cold  here." 

"  No,  no.  Wait.  Well,  that 
night — do  you  remember  what 
you  said  to  me?" 

Bellew  drew  a  long  breath. 
This,  then,  was  to  be  the  oneway 
out  of  his  difficulties?  He  had 
only  to  say  the  word  and  she 
would  be  his  —  she  herself,  and 
her  money.  He  could  stay  in 
England;  live  on  as  he  loved 
life;  be  a  man. 

-Eve!" 

As  he  said  the  word  it  all  hung 
in  the  balance ;  he  did  not  know 
how  he  meant  to  continue.  Then, 
all  expectant,  flushed  and  trem- 
bling, she  looked  up  at  him,  and 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


the  scale  went  down.  He  could 
not  do  it,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  he  loved  her. 

He  rose.  "  Let's  go  and  — 
watch  the  dancing,"  he  said 
hoarsely,  "and  I  fear  I'm  en- 
gaged for  the  next  dance." 

She  followed  him  in  a  smitten 
silence,  and  when  he  had  handed 
her  over  to  her  father,  he  rushed 
off  toward  the  door,  with  the 
intention  of  leaving.  At  the 
head  of  the  stairs  he  trod  on 
a  long  pink  train,  and  turning 
to  apologize,  found  himself  speak- 
ing to  Enid  Fermoy.  She  was 
of  common  stock,  and  showed 
it,  but  her  fortune  was  great, 
and  her  sisters  had  married 
well. 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


"How  d'ye  do?"  she  said 
frigidly. 

*  *  My  heart  is  broken  for  having 
torn  your  frills.  Can  you  for- 
give me?" 

"Yes.  But  I  don't  think  I 
can  forgive  you  for  never  com- 
ing to  see  us.  Have  you  been 
0»? 

«T.«J. 

"Yes." 

"Where?" 

Her  nose  was  broad  and  coarse- 
skinned,  and  her  small,  square 
figure  could  never  be  improved, 
but  she  had  quantities  of  beauti- 
ful fair-colored,  wavy  hair,  and 
good  teeth. 

"  Let  me  take  you  down  to 
supper,  and  I'll  tell  you  where 
I've  been,"  he  said  suddenly. 


34 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


With  the  air  of  conscious  cru- 
elty sometimes  observed  in 
charmless  women  rendered  at- 
tractive by  their  money,  she 
immediately  dismissed  her  cava- 
lier and  took  Bellew's  arm. 
Hardly  daring  to  allow  himself 
to  think  of  Eve  Bramley,  he 
talked  rapidly  until  they  were 
seated  at  a  small  table  with  food 
and  wine  before  them.  Then  he 
looked  at  her,  waiting  for  her 
to  give  him  a  cue. 

"I'm  glad  to  see  you,"  she 
began,  sipping  champagne.  "I 
want  to  ask  your  advice." 

"I  am  much  honored,  Miss 
Fermoy." 

The  winter  before  she  had 
rather  persecuted  him  by  her 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


attentions,  he  remembered,  but 
of  late  he  had  hardly  seen  her. 
He  wondered,  as  he  rubbed  his 
wet  and  aching  feet  together  un- 
der the  table,  what  on  earth  she 
wanted  his  advice  for. 

She  was  less  attractive  than 
either  Betty  Pole  or  Miss  Bradnor, 
but  she  was,  he  thought,  truth- 
ful ;  she  would  not  expect  artistic 
sympathy  as  the  latter  would, 
and  she  would  surely  behave 
better  than  Betty. 

"  It's  about  my  marriage,  "pur- 
sued Miss  Fermoy. 

*  *  You  —  are  you  engaged  ?  " 

He  paled  as  he  spoke,  and 
her  sharp  little  eyes  seeing  it, 
she,  of  course,  mistook  the 
cause. 


36 


"  I  'm  glad  to  see  you,"  she  began,  sipping  champagne.      ••  I 
want  to  ask  your  advice." 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


on  such  a  man  as  either  of  them. 
So  forgive  my  bad  manners." 

She  nodded.  "Yes,  I  forgive 
you.  So  you  advise  against 
either  of  them." 

-I  do." 

"A  girl  in  my  position  has  a 
hard  time,"  she  went  on,  sighing. 
'  *  I  always  fear  —  that  they  want 
my  money." 

*  *  The  two  you  named,  no  doubt, 
do.  There  are  other  men  in  the 
world,  however." 

"Yes.  I  sometimes  wonder 
why  I,  who  am  not  at  all 
pretty P  " 

Bellew  looked  at  her. 

"No;  I  should  certainly  not 
call  you  pretty,"  he  said  slowly. 
"But  I  could  tell  you  why." 


38 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


-Why?" 

"Well  —  it's  charm." 

Poor,  charmless  child  of  medi- 
cated soap !  Drinking  it  in,  her 
eyes  asked  for  more. 

"Charm?     In  me?" 

His  bills,  all  many  times  re- 
newed, were  due  to-morrow, 
and  he  had  in  the  world  just 
£i5  6s.  lod.  He  lied  with  the 
skill  born  of  dire  and  instant 
necessity. 

"How  can  you  ask  me  that? 
Haven't  you  tortured  me 
enough  ?  You  know  perfectly  well 
that " 

He  was,  she  had  always 
thought,  the  handsomest  man  in 
town,  and  he  was  hand  in  glove 
with  many  of  the  apparently  great. 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


He  had  long  troubled  her  fancy, 
and  now  she  felt  her  heart. 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean," 
she  murmured  with  an  elephan- 
tine coyness  that  annoyed  him 
terribly. 

"I  mean  —  you  know  that  for 
me,  you  are — the  only  —  (way 
out,"  he  added  silently). 

Enid  Fermoy  blushed.  Then 
she  paled. 

"  You  mean " 

"  That  I  love  you.      Exactly." 

He  had  advanced  with  con- 
summate skill  up  to  this  point. 
Then,  remembering  the  effect  of 
his  words  on  lovely  Eve  Bramley, 
he  blundered,  by  going  on,  "I 
should  not  have  told  you,  Miss 
Fermoy,  but — I  am  going  to 


4o 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


America  to-morrow,  and  — 
heaven  knows  if  I  can  see  you 
again." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"I  mean  —  that  I  am  a  ruined 
man,  and  am  leaving  England 
forever  to-morrow." 

He  watched  her,  waiting  for 
her  to  speak. 

"What  do  you  mean  by 
ruined?"  she  asked. 

He  told  her  in  picturesque  and 
pathetic  words,  his  dark  eyes 
fixed  on  hers. 

Then  she  rose.  "Well,"  she 
said,  pulling  on  her  gloves,  "  I  'm 
glad  you  told  me  that.  It  was 
very  gentlemanly  of  you,  and  I 
hope  you'll  get  on  well  in 
America.' 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


He  had  forgotten  the  mercantile 
spirit  that  had  been  born  in  her. 

"Then  —  you  refuse  me  be- 
cause I  am  poor?"  he  cried 
bitterly. 

She  shook  her  head.  "No,  I 
don't  refuse  you,  because  you 
didn't  ask  me.  I'm  sorry"  (with 
a  swift  resumption  of  the  co- 
quettish manner)  ' '  to  have  hurt 
you,  but — I  can't  help  it.  Good- 
bye." 

Leaving  him  planted  there  she 
joined  some  people  who  were 
going  out  of  the  dining-room, 
and  disappeared. 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


IV 

BELLE W  did  not  go  to  bed 
that  night.  He  sat  by  his  fire 
until  dawn,  going  over  and  over 
in  his  mind  the  events  of  the 
evening.  Only  of  Eve  he  would 
let  himself  think. 

"It  is  one  of  the  few  decent 
things  I  ever  did,"  he  told  him- 
self, '  *  and  there 's  no  use  re- 
gretting it." 

It  surprised  him  that  he,  who 
had  always  been  considered  an 
irresistible  man,  should  have  met 
with  such  treatment.  And  the 
next  day  —  that  day  —  he  must 
make  a  bolt  for  it  out  of  this  dear 
little  country.  He  must  leave 


43 


THE   ONE  WAY  OUT 


these  pleasant  rooms  full  of  pretty 
things ;  he  must  become  now  in 
practice  what  he  had  long  been 
in  fact — a  poor  man. 

"Ah,  my  God!"  he  moaned 
once,  "one  of  them  might  have 
taken  me ! " 

Toward  dawn  he|fell  asleep  in 
his  chair  and  dreamed  he  was 
buying  a  six  thousand  pound 
Mercedes.  When  he  awoke  the 
coward  in  him  winced. 

"  I  can't  bear  it,  I  can't,"  he 
said  aloud,  rising. 

He  would  have  made  a  good 
husband,  far  better  than  Betty 
Pole  or  that  little  soap  girl 
deserved,  his  life  would  have  been 
a  beautiful 

"  Letter,  sir." 


44 


-3*- 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


His  servant  gave  him  the  letter 
and  left  the  room.  It  was  the 
last  time  he  would  bring  the 
letters,  the  last  time  of  every- 
thing. Mechanically  he  tore  open 
the  top  envelope. 

DEAR  ADRIAN  :  Come  and  see  me  this 
afternoon.  I  have  not  slept  for  thinking 
of  you,  and  must  see  you.  I  never 
dreamt  of  caring  for  you,  but  for  the 
horrible  things  you  said 

Ten  pages  of  it,  signed,  of 
course,  "Betty." 

Bellew  laughed  half  hysteri- 
cally. It  was  wonderful.  And 
how  awful  she  must  look  with- 
out any  make-up !  He  wished 
it  had  been  even  the  medicated 
soap  girl. 


45 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


The  next  letter,  which  he 
opened  while  thinking  of  Betty, 
ran  : 

DEAR  MR.  BELLEW  :  I  have  been  think- 
ing all  night  about  what  you  said.  Girls 
in  my  position  get  used  to  thinking  men 
want  their  money,  and  so  at  first  I  did  n't 
like  you  being  ruined.  But  if  you  will 
forgive  me,  1  will  marry  you.  I  am 
sure  you  will  not  want  to  waste  my 
money  as  Tippy  wastes  my  sister  Mona's. 
That  would  be  wicked  and  break  my 
heart. 

Come  and  see  me  this  morning,  dear 
Adrian  (I  do  so  love  your  name,  but  you 
must  n't  be  jealous  of  it ! ) . 

ENID. 

"Oh,  my  Lord!'  Bellew 
burst  into  a  loud  laugh  as  he 
read.  ' '  Both  of  them !  I  wonder 
if  this  is  from  the  sculptress  ?  " 

It  was. 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


DEAR  ADRIAN  (it  began)  :  The  reason 
I  said  I  could  never  like  you  more  is 
that  I  love  you  with  my  whole  heart 
already.  I  nave  loved  you  ever  since 
that  day  at  Henley.  I  had  to  say  no,  as 
I  was  engaged  to  Freddy  Wilson,  but  I 
could  n't  stand  it,  and  broke  the  engage- 
ment before  leaving  Lady  Seton's.  Oh, 
I  am  so  happy,  and  you  must  n't  think 
me  forward  in  writing  this  way.  Come 
and  see  me  at  eleven. 


Bellew  read  the  three  letters 
again  without  moving.  And 
then,  with  a  strong  shudder, 
looked  up  out  of  a  near  window. 
"Rather  death,"  he  said. 

Then  sitting  down  at  his  writ- 
ing-table, he  put  each  letter  into 
an  envelope  and  addressed  it  to 
its  sender. 

"Johnson  —  a  hansom,  and 
enough  clothes  in  the  steamer 


_  * 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


trunk  to  last  to  New  York.  I 
shall  not  need  you." 

Half  an  hour  latter  Bellew 
came  out  of  his  bedroom  with 
an  overcoat  on,  his  hat  in  his 
hand. 

'  *  You  know  why  I  'm  off, 
Johnson,"  he  said  simply;  "  I'm 
sorry  to  lose  you,  but  I  Ve  paid 
you,  and  you  needn't  know  too 
much  for  a  few  days." 

Johnson  blew  his  nose.  "  You 
took  the  early  boat  for  Dover, 
sir,"  he  said;  ' 'that's all  /know." 

When  the  man  had  gone  down 
to  the  hansom  with  the  hand 
luggage,  Bellew  stood  still  for  a 
moment,  looking  round  him. 

"I'm  the  damnedest  idiot,"  he 
said  aloud.  "  I  wonder  whether 


48 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


I  'd  have  stayed  if  only  one  had 
changed  her  mind?  Is  it  sepa- 
rately or  collectively  that  they're 
so  horrible  to  me  ?  Or  is  it ?  " 

Going  to  the  chimneypiece  he 
took  from  it  a  small  photograph 
of  Eve  Bramley,  in  a  silver 
frame,  and  looking  at  it  for  a 
moment,  put  it  into  his  pocket. 

Then  he  went  downstairs  to 
the  hansom. 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 

^ 


I 

1  HE  public  is  incredulous  and 
sarcastic  when  it  reads  of  won- 
derful happenings  in  novels,  but 
curiously  simple-minded  in  ac- 
cepting the  half  or  wholly  fabulous 
events  chronicled  in  the  press. 

So  remember,  oh  you  who 
shake  your  heads  over  the  event 
about  to  be  recorded,  that  if  you 
had  read  it  in  your  morning  paper 
on  your  way  downtown  in  the 
elevated,  it  would  never  have 
occurred  to  you  to  doubt  its 
plausibility.  In  a  word,  Adrian 
Bellew  did  what  so  many  men 
did  in  the  golden  forties.  He 
struck  gold,  though  in  a  way 


.*> — «-  '••  •         —      -"•-^ 

53 


differing  from  that  picturesque 
one  we  have  all  loved  in  Bret 
Harte. 

He  was  sitting,  that  warm  day, 
at  his  midday  meal,  —  a  horror 
of  fried  meat  and  soggy  pies,  — 
in  the  fly-filled  dining-room  of 
the  Excelsior  Hotel  in  Nugget 
City. 

Bret  Harte,  only,  could  have 
described  the  room  and  the  men 
who  occupied  it.  I  can  but  say 
that  it  was  a  scene  of  sordid  dis- 
comfort such  as  Bellew  would  a 
year  before  have  been  unable  to 
endure,  but  which  he  now  sur- 
veyed, as  he  hungrily  attacked 
the  abominable  food  set  before 
him,  with  a  certain  philosophical 
boredom.  The  man  himself,  in 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


his  shabby  clothes,  his  face  length- 
ened by  a  thick  beard,  his  nails 
broken  and  discoloured,  was  by 
far  less  distinguishable  from  his 
companions  than  he  would  have 
believed,  and  an  outsider,  coming 
in  as  the  rapid  meal  went  on, 
would,  unless  an  unusually  sharp 
observer,  have  been  obliged  to 
wait  until  Bellew  spoke  before 

.^  )  jBr '• 

recognizing  him  as  the  gentle- 
man of  the  assembly. 

During  the  year  and  a  half 
that  had  passed  since  he  landed 
in  New  York,  Bellew  had  gone 
through  various  phases  of  hard 
luck.  Not  of  a  strong  enough 
character  to  force  fortune,  too 
disheartened  to  take  any  interest 
in  his  different  make-shifts,  he 


55 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


had  drifted  about  like  a  man  in 
a  bad  dream,  unable  to  help 
himself,  caring  less  and  less 
what  became  of  him. 

And  after  successively  driving 
a  public  vehicle  in  Omaha,  a 
brief  novitiate  as  a  bartender,  six 
weeks  in  a  hospital,  the  result 
of  a  dispute  over  a  drink  in  the 
mixing  of  which  he  failed  to 
satisfy  an  exigent  customer,  and 
other  periods  of  wholly  unsuc- 
cessful attempts  to  earn  his  living, 
he  had  taken  to  digging, — not 
for  gold,  but  as  a  day-labourer,  — 
and  finding,  after  the  pains  in  his 
untrained  muscles  had  subsided, 
that  the  work  suited  him  physic- 
ally, was  still  doing  it  that  day 
when  he  struck  gold. 


56 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


He  had  just  helped  himself  to 
a  huge  slice  of  pie  when  the 
pompadoured  waitress,  Miss 
Myrtle  M'Griffin,  came  in  with 
a  packet  of  letters. 

"  Here's  one  for  you,  George," 
she  observed  with  the  metallic  co- 
quetry so  popular  with  her  public, 
§"  from  your  Honey-Bag,  I  bet! 
And  here 's  one  from  the  old  folks 
at  home,  Bill,"  to  a  huge  Missis- 
sippian  with  a  turquoise  ring  on 
his  little  finger,  "and — one  for 
our  own  dear  Tenderfoot ! ' 

Everyone  laughed,  for  Bellew 
having  once  explained  to  a  circle 
of  delighted  listeners  how  great 
had  been  his  disappointment  on 
first  arriving  in  the  West  at 
never  once  being  addressed  by  the 


QMS£ 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


classic  nickname,  it  had  instantly 
been  adopted  by  his  fellow- 
labourers,  and  he  answered  to  it 
with  varying  degrees  of  docility. 

This  time  he  merely  grunted, 
and  taking  the  letter,  opened  it 
carelessly.  For  a  long  minute 
the  drowsy  buzzing  of  the  myriad 
flies  was  the  only  thing  he  heard, 
and  then  the  sound  of  voices  came 
back  to  him,  and  blindly  fum- 
bling for  the  eyeglass  he  had  not 
worn  for  eighteen  months,  he 
rose  and  went  out  of  the  room 
and  to  the  open  house-door. 

The  horizon  was  bounded  on 
all  sides  by  baking  red  birch; 
a  girl  drove  by  in  a  buggy,  her 
jaws  working  merrily  over 
chewing-gum ;  in  the  distance 


58 


THE  ONE   WAY   OUT 


some  one  whistled  ' '  Hiawatha  " ; 
a  train  lumbered  slowly  over  the 
invisible  line  to  the  left.  And 
the  burning  sun,  it  seemed,  stood 
still  in  the  heavens. 

Suddenly  the  man  who  had 
struck  gold  gave  a  short  laugh, 
and  turning  on  his  heel  went  back 
to  the  dining-room.  "Twins?" 
suggested  the  man  from  Missis- 
sippi, jocularly,  and  Bellew,  from 
whom  none  of  the  other's  well- 
meant  witticisms  had  heretofore 
drawn  the  slightest  tribute,  smiled 
—  the  civil  smile  of  one  gentleman 
for  another's  pleasantry.  Miss 
Myrtle  M'Griffin,  whose  habit  was 
to  devote  her  fingers  to  her  coiffure 
more  than  is  strictly  desirable  in 
a  waitress,  drew  her  pompadour 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


to  a  height  of  half  a  foot  and 
then  patted  it  fondly  into  place 
before  she  dashed  at  the  empty 
plates  and  retired  with  them. 
"A  very  nice  young  woman," 
observed  Bellew  with  conviction 
as  the  door  closed. 

' '  You  bet  she  is ! "  returned  a 
freckled  youth  at  the  far  end  of 
the  table;  "but  you  better  not  let 
her  hear  you  calling  her  a  woman. 
She's  a  lady,  Myrtle  is." 

'"I  want  to  be  a  loidy,'"  sang 
Bellew,  softly,  and  then  when  they 
all  stared,  he  leaned  forward,  his 
hands  held  out  persuasively, 
almost  affectionately.  "  Gentle- 
men," he  said  in  a  strangely  soft 

voice,  "you  must  all  drink  with 

i " 
me! 


60 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


His  manner  was  so  unlike  the 
usual  half-surly  indifference  to 
which  he  had  accustomed  them 
that  even  the  offer  of  drinks  did 
not  break  the  spell,  and  to  a  man 
they  still  stared,  until  the  reap- 
pearance of  Miss  M'Griffin  caused 
a  reaction  and  they  all  spoke  at 
once,  accepting  his  invitation  with 
enthusiasm. 

"Now,"  said  Bellew,  rising 
and  holding  up  his  glass,  "you 
must  drink  my  health,  for  I  have 
struck  gold." 

"Gold!" 

"Gold,  by  God?  But  where — 
where?" 

''In — Africa,"  answered 
Bellew,  very  gently.  Then,  still 
with  the  extraordinary  sweetness 


61 


THE    ONE   WAY   OUT 


in  his  voice  and  manner,  as  if  he 
wished  to  apologize  to  them  for  his 
luck  in  the  face  of  their  unchanged 
fortunes,  he  told  his  story. 

"  Years  ago  —  nine  or  ten  — 
I  was  in  Capetown.  I  met  a 
chap  there  —  a  poor  devil,  out  at 
elbows  and  discouraged — who 
told  me  he  knew  where  gold  was, 
but  had  n't  the  money  necessary 
to  look  for  it.  I — I  was  rich 
then,  and  —  somehow  the  poor 
chap  got  on  my  nerves,  and  I 
was  sorry  for  him,  and — well,  I 
lent  him  the  money.  He  was  a 
gentleman  —  "  for  a  moment  the 
narrator  hesitated,  remembering 
that  he  was  in  a  land  where  all 
men  are  gentlemen,  and  then, 
his  nervous  hands  deprecating 


62 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


reproach,  hurried  on,  " — and  he 
insisted  on  giving  me  a  paper 
promising  that  I  should  have  half 
of  all  that  he  found.  I  took  the 
paper — to  save  his  feelings.  And 
now  —  it  appears  he  found  gold 
on  the  identical  spot,  but  only  a 
year  ago,  and — half  of  it  is,  ac- 
cording to  law,  but  only  because 
he  was  honourable  and  has  told 
me  of  it, — mine." 

"Oh,  gosh!"  murmured  Miss 
M'Griffin,  loosening  her  pom- 
padour over  her  ears  with  both 
hands,  "  half  of  a  gold  mine!  " 

' '  Extraordinarily  decent  of  the 
fellow,  wasn't  it?"  pursued 
Bellew,  setting  down  his  glass. 
"I  never  should  have  heard  of 
it  in  the  world.' 


63 


THE    ONE  WAY   OUT 


There  was  a  short  pause  dur- 
ing which  each  man  present  asked 
himself  whether  his  own  honour 
could  have  gone  to  such  lengths, 
and  Bellew  rose. 

"  I  leave  by  the  i  .45.  Boys," 
he  pursued,  employing  for  the  first 
time  the  generic  term  used  by  his 
companions,  "good-bye." 

But  though  they  all  shook  his 
hand  they  accompanied  him  in  a 
body  to  his  room  under  the  gal- 
vanized roof  of  the  hotel,  and 
then  to  the  depot,  as  they  called 
the  station,  where  they  gave  him 
the  noisiest  and  heartiest  of  fare- 
wells. 

Bellew  had  not  loved  them. 
They  had  annoyed  and  bored  him, 
and  yet  as  he  waved  his  hand  to 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


them  as  the  train  drew  out  of 
the  station  his  eyes  were  wet. 
He  was  one  of  those  weaker  souls 
to  whom  happiness,  not  affliction, 
is  softening. 


65 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


II 


Adrian  Bellew,  six  weeks 
later,  jumped  out  of  the  dog- 
cart that  had  brought  him  from 
the  station  to  Ivordale  Hall  in 
Dorset,  Fate,  sly  female,  must 
have  chuckled  with  glee.  Her 
plans  were  so  well  laid,  and  their 
victim  so  unsuspecting,  that  the 
amusement  in  store  for  the  bold- 
faced jade  was  apparently  un- 
ending. 

Bellew,  very  smart  and  happy 
in  his  Savile  Row  clothes,  —  for 
no  Englishman  is  ever  really 
blissful  in  American  garments, 
—  entered  the  drawing-room  a 
few  minutes  later  with  as  clear  a 


66 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


conscience  as  that  of  any  young 
child,  but  as  he  shook  hands 
with  his  hostess,  the  conviction 
of  sinfulness,  with  its  attendant, 
the  longing  to  flee,  came  down 
on  him  with  terrific  suddenness. 

These  men,  these  women,  in 
England  whom  he  would  have 
avoided  at  almost  any  cost,  and 
then,  oh  horror,  even  two  of  them 
sitting  on  a  chintz-covered  sofa, 
smiling  at  him. 

Miss  Enid  Fermoy,  wealthy 
child  of  Ichthyol  Soap,  and  Miss 
Alice  Bradnor,  red-elbowed  and 
romantic  still,  he  saw  in  that 
awful  instant,  wearing  the  wrong 
kind  of  stays .  '  *  Is  —  Betty  Pole 
stopping  here?"  he  stammered, 
his  mouth  speaking  out  of  the 


C7 


THE    ONE  WAY   OUT 


fulness,  not  of  his  heart,  but  of  his 
horrified  mind. 

Lady  Ivordale  stared.  Then 
she  laughed.  "  My  dear  Adrian, 
I  thought  that  old  affair  was  dead 
long  ago  ! " 

Cursing  himself  for  his  idiotic 
question,  Bellew  insisted,  as  insist 
he  must.  "It  is  over — but — Is 
she  staying  here?" 

"Well,  yes,  as  a  matter-of- 
fact  she  is.  She  has  gone  for  a 
drive  with  Walter.  You  know 
Miss  Bradnor,  I  believe,  and  Miss 
Fermoy  ?  " 

Bellew  shook  hands  with  the 
two  ladies  and  then  sat  down  by 
them  and  there  was  a  short  silence. 

It  was  frightful  to  think  that 
the  last  time  he  had  seen  them 


68 


THE   ONE  WAY  OUT 

^-- 

— 


he  had  proposed  to  them  both, 
and  it  was  more  frightful  to 
think  that  he  had  been  accepted 
by  both  of  them  and  that,  in  his 
despair,  he  had  offered  to  them 
the  unpardonable  insult  of  return- 
ing unanswered  the  notes  in  which 
they  had  accepted  him. 

Miss  Fermoy  was  the  first  to 
speak.  "We  were  so  glad,"  she 
burst  out,  ' '  to  hear  of  your  good 
luck." 

"It  wasn't  luck  at  all,"  he 
returned  a  little  fretfully,  "it  was 
— the  result  of  an  old  speculation . " 

* '  So  clever  of  you,  so  clever  to 
be  able  to  look  ahead  and  know 
that  you  could  trust  the  man," 
murmured  Alice  Bradnor,  who 
was  very  red. 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


Bellew  rose.  "No  cleverness 
about  it,"  he  returned  almost 
rudely,  "nothing  but  chance." 
Then  he  left  them  staring  at  each 
other. 


70 


THE   ONE  WAY  OUT 


III 


he  dressed  for  dinner  Bellew 
acknowledged  to  himself  that  the 
two  girls  had  behaved  very  well. 
Alice  Bradnor  was  a  lady,  and  had 
he  had  time  to  reflect  he  never 
would  have  feared  her,  but  the  Fer- 
moy  girl  was  not  a  lady,  and  he 
realized  with  a  shudder  that  there 
were  things  she  might  have  said 
that  would  have  been  most  un- 
pleasant to  hear.  "I  did  behave 
like  the  most  awful  savage,"  he 
thought,  jerking  his  tie  impatiently, 
"and  if  she  isn't  a  lady,  well  —  I 
certainly  behaved  like  anything  on 
earth  but  a  gentleman.  Damned 
caddish  trick,  that's  what  it  was  !  " 


THE   ONE   WAY    OUT 


However,  the  fair  Enid  was, 
she  had  informed  him,  going  to 
be  married  shortly  to  the  Marquis 
of  Hengist-Horsham,  so  he  might 
hope  with  some  reason  that  she 
would  not  bother  him.  "Oh, 
yes,  they  are  all  right,"  he  con- 
cluded, putting  a  flower  in  his  coat 
and  turning  to  the  door.  ' '  If  only 

Betty   Pole    weren't   here " 

But  before  he  reached  the  stairs 
it  came  home  to  him  with  quite 
horrid  force  that  Betty  Pole  was 
there,  for  before  he  had  recognized 
her  she  was  in  his  arms,  her  lips 
pressed  to  his.  "Darling,"  was 
what  she  said,  and  then  she  put 
her  head  —  that  smelt  faintly  of 
hot  irons  —  on  his  shoulder. 
"Adrian,"  she  added. 


Before  he  had  recognized  her  she  was  in  his  arms,  her 
lips  pressed  to  his. 


THE  ONE  WAY  OUT 


In  a  second  he  was  stunned 
into  silence.  He  had  expected 
a  scene,  angry  words  possibly, 
or  even  downright  bad  language, 
but  this  contingency  had  not 
occurred  to  him. 

"  Hello,  Betty,  h'  are  you?"  he 
stammered,  withdrawing  himself 
from  her  surprisingly  strong  arms. 

' '  Oh,  dearest ! " 

"  I  say,  old  girl,  —  it's  very 
jolly  of  you  to  be  so  glad  to  see 
—  to  see  your  good-for-nothing 
cousin,  but — our  raptures  might 
be  misunderstood."  Her  expres- 
sion, put  on  for  the  occasion  with 
the  rest  of  her  make-up,  did  not 
change. 

"I  know — I  am  an  idiot,"  she 
breathed,  following  him  to  the 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


wall  whither  he  had  retreated 
and  laying  her  pretty  clasped 
hands  on  his  arm,  "but " 

"I  know,  I  know,  good  old 
Bet,"  he  interposed  hastily.  "By 
Jove,  how  fit  you  are  looking — 
no  one  would  ever  guess  you  were 
thirty-eight ! " 

But  bills  were  huge,  credit  low, 
and  marriageable  men  shy.  She 
nodded  confidingly.  ' '  No,  would 
one?  Ah,  Adrian,  perhaps  it 
has  been  thinking  of  you  that 
has  kept  me  young!" 

Bellew  shuddered.  It  was 
going  to  be  awful.  "Come, 
come,  old  girl,"  he  said  with 
ghastly  cheerfulness,  "don't 
drivel.  Let's  be  going  down — 
I'm  ravenous.' 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


* '  Heaps  of  time .    Lady  Michael 
is  always  half  an  hour  late.    And 

—  I  have  waited  so  long — with 
never  a  word   from   you.      Ah, 
Adrian,  that  was  hard.     I  knew 
why.      I    realized    that   you   felt 
you  had  had  no  right  to  ask  me, 

—  that  it  was  noble  of  you  to  dis- 
appear like  that,  —  but  it  nearly 
killed  me.     At  first,"  she  hurried 
on  as  he  tried  to  interrupt  her, 
"I  feared  that  my  letter  had  not 
reached  you,  but  I  met  Johnson 
in  the  street  two  days  after,  and 
he  assured  me  he  had  given  it  to 
you  himself,  and  then  I  under- 
stood, and  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
wait   for   you   if  it  was    twenty 
years !      Oh,    Adrian,    I    am    so 
happy." 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


She  knew  that  she  was  playing 
an  abominable  comedy,  he  knew 
it,  and  they  each  knew  that  the 
other  knew  it,  yet  the  situation 
was  so  peculiar  and  her  volubility 
so  great  that  when  they  were 
interrupted  by  the  tardy  Lady 
Michael's  approaching  footsteps 
Bellew  had  not  been  able  to  say  a 
word  to  mend  matters  and  went 
dejectedly  to  dinner  tacitly  en- 
gaged to  Lady  Betty  Pole,  whose 
white  throat,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
he  believed  himself  to  be  longing 
to  wring. 

"  Little  beast,"  he  thought, 
while  his  neighbour  told  him  the 
latest  scandal,  "she  got  her  letter 
back,  and  she  perfectly  well  under- 
stood, and  this  is  all  a  new  game 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


because  of  that  cursed  gold  mine ! " 
He  told  himself  that  his  language, 
when  he  got  his  cousin  alone  after 
dinner,  would  be  peculiarly  lucid, 
but  Lady  Betty,  throughout  the 
entire  evening,  affected  a  little 
dreamy  air  that  added  tenfold  to 
his  irritation,  and  clung  to  Lady 
Ivordale  so  closely  that  he  had 
not  the  opportunity  he  hoped  for, 
and  went  to  bed,  but  not  to  sleep, 
raging  helplessly. 

The  next  morning  his  man 
brought  him  a  note  before  he  was 
up. 

DEAREST  :  Let 's  not  tell  anyone  to-day. 
Do  you  mind  ?  I  am  so  happy. 

BETTY. 

Seizing  a  pencil  he  scrawled 
fiercely, 


77 


THE    ONE   WAY   OUT 


DEAR  BETTY  :  Not  tell  what  ?     So  far 
as  I  know  there  's  nothing  to  tell. 

ADRIAN  BELLEW. 

Then  he  lay  and  thought  of 
the  insulting  things  he  would  say 
to  her  when  they  met.  She  was, 
he  knew,  counting  on  the  inherent 
weakness  in  his  nature  that  had 
always  prompted  if  not  forced  him 
to  take  the  pleasanter  and  easier  of 
two  alternatives.  "After  all,"  he 
knew  she  was  thinking,  "he  did 
ask  me  to  marry  him,  and  I  said 
—  thank  heaven !  — that  I  would. 
And  having  accepted  him  when 
he  was  penniless,  common  decency 
will  not  allow  him  to  throw 
me  over  now  that  he's  rich!" 
The  little  business  of  his  having 
rudely  and  barbarously  refused 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


her  before  he  left  England  she 
was  putting  out  of  the  question 
by  pretending  she  had  never  re- 
ceived her  own  note  back.  "She 
thinks  I'll  funk  the  row  and  the 
looking  a  cad,"  he  reflected,  "and 
so  I  would  have,  probably,  a  year 
ago  and  if — if  it  wasn't  for  Eve. 
As  it  is — just  look  out,  Madame 
Betty!" 

Eve  Bramley  and  her  father 
were,  he  had  learned,  yachting 
off  the  coast  of  Scotland,  and  were 
to  be  at  home  in  about  a  fortnight. 
So  he  had  come  here  to  pass  the 
time  until  he  could  go  to  Afton. 
' '  And  only  an  unlucky  devil  like 
me  could  possibly  come  to  a  house 
with  those  three  women  in  it,"  he 
growled  with  a  rueful  laugh. 


79 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


It  annoyed  him  very  much,  his 
plans  all  being  laid  for  a  brilliant 
and  overwhelming  attack  on  the 
enemy,  to  find  that  the  enemy  had 
a  bad  head  and  was  lunching  up- 
stairs, to  save  herself  for  the  small 
dance  that  evening. 

* '  She  knows  that  the  longer  I 
leave  it  unsaid,  the  harder  it  will 
be  to  say  it,"  he  fumed,  frowning 
so  that  kind  Lord  Ivordale  smiled 
at  him  knowingly.  "All  right 
then,  I'll  say  it  at  the  ball!" 


80 


THE   ONE  WAY  OUT 


IV 

IVORDALE  HALL  is  a  big  house 
with  four  drawing-rooms  opening 
into  each  other,  so  that  a  long- 
sighted person  had  from  the  yellow 
room  a  beautiful  and  long  view 
through  the  blue  and  the  green 
rooms,  into  the  white  one,  where 
the  dancing  was  done.  Bellew, 
who  had  been  smoking  with  an- 
other man,  came  into  the  yellow 
drawing-room  at  about  twelve, 
and  stood  gazing  at  the  dancers. 
It  was  a  cool  evening  and  the 
music  was  good,  so  that  nearly 
everyone  had  been  or  was  danc- 
ing, and  in  the  soft  light,  thanks 
to  the  transformations  and  paint 


81 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


so  skilfully  used  in  England,  even 
the  grandmothers  looked  young 
and  lovely. 

' '  Apparently  not  an  old  woman 
in  Englishsociety, "  Bellew  mused, 
and  then,  catching  sight  of  Lady 
Betty,  who  was  standing  talking 
to  a  little  man  with  a  bald  head, 
he  squared  his  shoulders,  and  with 
a  very  bellicose  air  started  toward 
her. 

At  the  door  of  the  green  drawing- 
room,  however,  he  stopped  short, 
his  expression  changing  with  sur- 
prising quickness  to  one  of  helpless 
joy.  "Eve!" 

Eve  Bramley,  very  lovely  in  her 
white  frock,  held  out  her  hand 
without  appearing  at  all  surprised 
to  see  him. 


THE    ONE   WAY   OUT 


"Ah,  Cousin  Adrian,"  she  said 
gently,  "I  am  glad  to  see  you." 

Something  in  her  quiet  greeting 
hurt  him.  She  had  changed  in  the 
twenty-two  months  since  they  had 
met.  She  looked  less  delicate,  her 
graceful  shoulders  were  less  fragile, 
her  cheeks  fuller.  And  as  he  took 
her  hand  he  told  himself  bitterly, 
"  She  loved  me  then,  and  now  — 
she  does  not."  Somehow,  this  pos- 
sibility had  never  occurred  to  him. 
He  had  never  changed,  and  he  had 
been  sure  she  would  not.  And 
now  here  she  was,  as  they  walked 
together  toward  an  open  window, 
her  hand  on  his  arm,  asking  him  in 
the  most  indifferently  friendly  way 
about  his  crossing,  when  he  had  ar- 
rived, and  how  he  was  in  general. 


83 


THE   ONE   WAY  OUT 


They  sat  down,  and  after  a 
minute  he  burst  out,  "Eve  — 
there  is  something  I  want  to  tell 
you  —  " 

She  held  up  her  hand  in  quiet 
authority.  "And  I  have  some- 
thing to  tell  you,  Cousin  Adrian. 
I  am  engaged  to  Gerald  Bantry." 
For  a  moment  the  ex-ditcher  of 
Nugget  City  thought  he  was  going 
to  faint,  and  then,  with  a  tremen- 
dous effort,  he  rose  to  the  occasion 
and  wished  her  joy.  "I  hope  you 
—  I  am  sure  you  will  be  very 
happy,  dear  little  cousin,"  he  said 
evenly. 

It  was  a  relief  to  him  when  she 
rose,  and,  thanking  him,  asked 
him  to  take  her  to  find  her  father, 
for  he  felt  that  he  would  not  have 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


stood  much  more.  When  he  had 
left  her  he  escaped  from  the  house 
and  went  to  the  deserted  bowling- 
green,  where  he  walked  up  and 
down  for  an  hour  or  more  trying 
to  believe  that  Eve  Bramley  was 
going  to  marry  Gerald  Bantry. 


85 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


V 

AFTER  all,  the  only  thing  for  it 
was  flight.  The  blow  had  been 
a  hard  one  —  so  hard  a  one  that 
it  seemed  to  have  taken  all  his 
strength  from  him.  "  If  I  stayed 
I  shouldn't  have  the  heart  to  fight 
Betty,"  he  concluded,  as  he  crept 
unseen  to  his  room,  "and  she'd 
marry  me — or  rather  that  damned 
gold  mine — out  of  hand.  I'll  go 
back  to  town,  where  I  can  be  alone, 
and  write  her  from  there." 

The  earliest  train  left  at  9.80, 
which  meant  his  leaving  the 
house  at  9 . 1 5 ,  but  fearing  a  chance 
meeting  with  some  one  of  the 
guests,  to  whom  he  should  have 


86 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


to  explain  his  sudden  departure, 
Bellew  decided  to  walk  to  the 
station,  starting  at  about  9,  and 
leaving  his  man  to  follow  with  the 


Worn  and  weary  from  his  sleep- 
less night,  he  left  the  house,  and 
drawing  a  long  breath,  started 
down  the  avenue .  Only  yesterday 
he  had  sauntered  there,  relieving 
his  angry  meditations  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Lady  Betty  with  happy 
dreamings  about  Eve.  He  knew 
that  she  had  loved  him  that  evening 
before  he  left  England,  and  his 
not  telling  her  that  he  loved  her 
had  been  the  one  deed  in  his  life 
of  which  he  felt  he  might  justly 
feel  a  little  proud.  And  now  it 
appeared  that  that  one  good 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


deed  had  lost  him.  She  had 
been  too  young;  she  had  for- 
gotten; and  now  that  he  had 
come  back,  like  the  hero  of  a 
romance,  with  untold  gold  to  lay 
at  her  feet,  she  was  going  to 
marry  Gerald  Bantry. 

To  his  credit,  be  it  said,  even  in 
his  bitterness  of  spirit  the  man  did 
not  accuse  her  of  accepting  Bantry 
for  his  title  or  for  any  but  the  one 
good  reason.  She  was  going  to 
marry  him ;  therefore  it  followed 
that  she  loved  him. 

Sick  at  heart,  Bellew  made  his 
way  down  the  dew-damp  road, 
his  head  bent. 

He  raised  it  at  the  sound  of 
horses'  hoofs,  and  drew  to  one 
side  to  let  the  riders  pass.  To  his 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


amazement,  the  girl  on  the  big 
bay  was  Eve  Bramley,  and  she 
pulled  up  to  speak  to  him.  "We 
are  off  to-day ,  quite  unexpectedly, " 
she  began,  "for  more  yachting, 
and  father  sent  me  over  to  tell 
Lady  Ivordale, — she  wanted  me 
to  come  to  stop  for  a  day  or  so, 
but  you  see  I  can't." 

Bellew  stood,  bareheaded,  look- 
ing vaguely  up  at  her.  "You 
never  used  to  ride,"  he  observed. 
"I'll  walk  back  to  the  house  with 
you — "  Signing  to  her  groom  to 
go  on,  she  slipped  off  her  horse 
and  they  walked  slowly  back. 
Bellew  had  forgotten  that  he  was 
going  away,  he  had  forgotten  Lady 
Betty,  he  had  forgotten  everything 
in  the  world  but  Eve  Bramley. 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


' '  Yes, — we  go  back  to  the  yacht 
to-day.  I  am  glad.  We  came  to 
the  Grenvils  unexpectedly,  be- 
cause Bunny  Grenvil  is  engaged 
and  her  young  man  was  there  and 
father  wanted  to  meet  him  —  " 

"Bunny  Grenvil  engaged? 
Everyone  is  engaged,  it  seems  to 
me —  You,  and  she,  and  the 
Fermoy  girl  —  " 

Eve  turned  and  looked  at  him. 
"  And  you,"  she  finished,  smiling. 

And  that  is  how,  quite  simply, 
Lady  Betty  was  frustrated  ! 

"I  engaged?  What  do  you 
mean?"  cried  Bellew,  standing 
still.  She  smiled  again:  a  would- 
be  teasing,  cousinly  smile,  that 
trembled  a  little.  "  Now,  Cousin 
Adrian  !  Play  cricket !  I  know, 


9° 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


because,   you   see,   she   told  me 
herself." 

And  then  Bellew  knew. 
Never  mind  what  he  thought  as 
he  realized  the  extent  to  which 
Lady  Betty's  perfidy  had  gone. 
"Eve,"  he  said  slowly,  "if  Betty 
Pole  told  you  that  she  and  I  were 
engaged,  she  lied.  I  love  you, 
and  I  always  did  love  you.  Now 
tell  me  when  you  became  engaged 
to  Ban  try?" 

"Oh,  Adrian!" 
"Yes,  dearest,  when?" 
And  then  she  confessed  her  silly 
little  story,  —  how  she  had  come 
to  the  dance  full  of  happiness,  how 
meeting  Lady  Betty  and  inquiring 
for  Bellew,  who  was  still  smoking, 
Lady  Betty  had  confided  to  her 


91 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


the  tale  of  the  engagement,  and 
how  young  Bantry,  who  had  al- 
ready proposed  to  her,  again  try- 
ing his  chances  five  minutes  after 
Lady  Betty  had  left  her,  she  had 
in  her  desperation  of  hurt  love  and 
pride  accepted  him. 

"What  shall  I  do?"  she  cried, 
as,  hidden  from  the  house  by  a 
great  clump  of  shrubs,  Bellew 
held  her  in  his  happy  arms. 

' '  Do  ?     Marry  me  of  course." 

"But  —  poor  Gerald?  I  am 
engaged  to  him." 

"And  you  must  break  the  en- 
gagement. Ah,  Eve,  we  aren't  in 
a  book,  and  poor  Bantry,  the  man 
whom  you  don't  love,  must  go  to 
the  wall  for  the  man  whom,  God 
be  thanked  forever,  you  do  love." 


92 


"  And  you  must  break  the  engagement." 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


VI 

LADY  BETTY  had  decided  to 

come  to  breakfast  that  morning. 
The  evening  before  she  had  told 
Lady  Ivordale  of  her  engagement 
to  Bellew,  and  the  house  party 
having  dwindled  to  a  small  circle 
of  intimates,  the  hour,  she  decided, 
had  come  for  the  bold  stroke  that 
should  forever  weld  that  gold 
mine  to  her. 

So  as  she  drank  her  coffee  she 
looked  up  and  remarked  to  Lord 
Ivordale,  "Adrian  is  very  late 
this  morning." 

Ivordale,  who,  she  guessed,  had 
been  told  by  his  wife  of  her  pros- 
pects, laughed  good-naturedly. 


V  ^ 

« 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


"  He  isn't  used  to  finding  you  at 
breakfast,  Madame  Betty!" 

Ivordale  was  one  of  the  people 
who  had  always  been  unable  to 
help  loving  Bellew,  even  in  his 
most  unregenerate  days,  and  he 
did  not  much  care  for  Lady  Betty. 
Still,  it  was  Bellew's  affair,  not 
his 

Alice  Bradnor,  who  adored 
Bellew  so  that  she  had  long  since 
forgiven  him  his  unforgivable 
behaviour  in  the  matter  of  his 
proposal  to  her,  looked  up  ner- 
vously. She  had  no  hope  for  her- 
self, but  Lady  Betty  as  his  choice 
appeared  almost  more  than  she 
could  bear.  Lady  Betty,  watching 
for  her  cue,  found  it  in  the  girl's 
unconscious  glance.  "He'll  be 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


telling  himself,  if  I  don't,"  she 
murmured.  "I  had  an  awful 
time  with  him  yesterday.  Adrian 
and  I  have  decided  to  pass  our 
declining  years  together,  a  la 
John  Anderson  and  his  what's 
her  name." 

There  was  triumph  in  her 
voice,  and  the  worm  turned. 
Miss  Bradnor  flushed  an  ugly 
purplish  red  and  set  down  her 
cup .  ' '  Oh , — my  congrats , "  she 
returned  promptly;  "only  John 
Anderson  and  his  wife  were 
married  when  they  were  young, 
weren't  they?" 

And  before  the  laugh  subsided 
the  door  opened,  and  Bellew  ap- 
peared, looking  amazingly  young, 
leading  Eve  Bramley  by  the  hand. 


THE   ONE  WAY   OUT 


"Lady  Ivordale, — Tom, — 
Betty  —  Eve  has  promised  to 
marry  me,"  he  cried  in  a  voice 
full  of  triumph. 

There  was  a  moment's  silence 
and  then  Lady  Ivordale  rushed 
at  the  agonized  Eve,  who  had 
clearly  anticipated  no  such  out- 
rageous publicity,  and  embraced 
her  warmly. 

"Wish  me  luck,  Betty,"  pur- 
sued Bellew,  rejoicing  brazenly 
in  his  new-found  courage ;  "thus 
ends  our  fifteen-year  engagement 
that  you  have  broken  so  many 
times!  Tom  —  old  man " 

I  am  convinced  that  such  a 
scene  was  never  before  perpe- 
trated in  England  or  out  of  that 
highly  superior  island.  It  was 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


so  overwhelming,  so  earthquake- 
like  in  its  proportions  that  after 
the  first  shock  the  surprise  was 
past,  and  everyone  began  to  cast 
about  for  some  way  of  escape, 
without  stopping  to  reflect  on  the 
exact  nature  of  the  catastrophe. 
Alice  Bradnor,  who  was  a  kind 
soul,  kissed  Eve  and  sat  by  her, 
holding  her  hand  and  really 
taking  part  in  the  younger  girl's 
happiness.  The  less  interested 
members  of  the  party  left  the 
room  under  more  or  less  flimsy 
pretexts,  and  Lady  Betty,  after  a 
loud  laugh,  bobbed  up  again 
out  of  the  ruins,  so  to  speak, 
with  at  least  a  few  of  her  mental 
belongings  safe  in  the  small  box 
of  her  self-possession.  "  Bless 


97 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


my  soul,  Adrian,"  she  cried, 
holding  out  both  her  hands, 
"you  break  my  heart.  You 
have  spoilt  the  best  joke  I  ever 
got  on  you.  I  had  just  told 
everyone  that  you  and  I  were 
engaged  —  you  remember,"  she 
embroidered  readily,  ' '  that  you 
were  asking  me  yesterday  when 
I  was  prepared  to  ratify  my 
twenty-year-old  promise  to  be 
yours?  —  and  when  you  came 
in  they  were  all  going  to  burst 
out  into  Congrats,  were  n't  you  ?  " 

"We  were,"  chorussed  the  dis- 
tressed onlookers,  eagerly,  Alice 
Bradnor  the  loudest  of  all. 

' t  Sorry  to  have  spoilt  the  fun," 
returned  Bellew,  graciously,  for 
he  could  not  help  being  sorry  for 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


X 


her,  *  *  but  you  see  you  wore  out 
my  patience  at  last !  " 

No  one  believed  in  the  least 
in  this  capping  of  his,  but  every 
one  pretended  to,  which  for  all 
practical  purposes  was  nearly  as 
good.  And  so,  after  all,  Adrian 
Bellew  came  to  his  own. 

He  was  twenty  years  older 
than  Eve ;  he  had  been,  if  not  a 
bad  man,  at  least  as  little  to  be 
called  a  good  one;  his  return 
from  the  wilderness  where  he 
would  undoubtedly  have  gone 
under  had  been  contingent  and 
mere  chance. 

And  yet,  under  some  mysterious 
dispensations,  he  had  won  for  his 
this  woman,  almost  a  child,  beau- 
tiful, innocent,  and  adoring  him. 


99 


THE   ONE   WAY   OUT 


And   why?     Ah,   who    knows 
why? 

Possibly  for  the  salvation  of 
his  soul,  possibly  because  only 
he,  such  as  he  was,  could  make 
her  happy.  At  all  counts,  so  it 
was,  and  because  I  like  him  I 
am  glad,  and  in  the  courteous 
and  cosy  way  of  old-time  writers, 
may  I  add  that  I  hope,  gentle 
reader,  you  will  be  glad  too? 


THE   END 


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